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Equatorial Spitting Cobra

Naja sumatrana

Description:

Today's encounter was the scariest/most adrenaline pumping I've ever had! We spotted this cobra crossing the road in an acacia/palm/eucalyptus plantation in Borneo. It was leaving a conservation area of plantation, and heading toward an area where a lot of people work outdoors in a tree nursery. My assistant is a reptile guy (though we study orangutans), and he was so happy to handle his first cobra! -No man or animal was injured :) He was able to get the snake back in the forest where he came from, because it probably would have been killed by one of the workers even if it wasn't a threat to anyone. Unfortunately in Indonesia, that's often the first response to seeing a snake.

Habitat:

East Kalimantan, Indonesia (island of Borneo) Coming out of an old acacia/palm/eucalyptus plantation, turned "conservation area"

Notes:

-Not sure if it's a king cobra or not, seems too small. Was about 1 meter in length

1 Species ID Suggestions

MrsPbio
MrsPbio 11 years ago
Equatorial Spitting Cobra
Naja sumatrana Equatorial spitting cobra


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13 Comments

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 10 years ago

Hi KaraNorby. Your spotting is featured in the new PN blog post via a link! Cheers
http://projectnoah.tumblr.com/post/58511...

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Wow. Very nice encounter.

CarolWillis
CarolWillis 11 years ago

What is your name

rutasandinas
rutasandinas 11 years ago

Estupendo buena toma

Jolly Ibañez
Jolly Ibañez 11 years ago

Wow, what a spotting! Beautiful. Thanks for doing the right thing - bringing it out of harm's way. Admirable effort considering the danger of handling that cobra.

DinDjarin
DinDjarin 11 years ago

WOW¡¡¡
NICE¡¡¡
I LIKE THIS SPOTTING¡¡¡
COOL¡¡¡

KaraNorby
KaraNorby 11 years ago

Looks right to me..! (but what do I know). Thanks Karen!

MrsPbio
MrsPbio 11 years ago

OK... after a few ID blunders, I think I got this one.... correct coloration, correct range, correct size.

We had similar cobras in the Philippines.... but ours were about 6ft long, irridescent blue-black, with a lemon-yellow belly. Gorgeous. (From a respectful distance......)

nice spot!

DanielePralong
DanielePralong 11 years ago

Great spotting and story Kara!

KaraNorby
KaraNorby 11 years ago

Thanks Argy Bee! And Megs, I handled the camera only, there was no way I was getting that close!! -I left that up to my assistant who was just overjoyed with our find. He's got the perfect mix of awesome and crazy

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 11 years ago

Hi Kara. Please correct your location for this spotting to Borneo. Thanks.

Megs18
Megs18 11 years ago

Wow! I would have run the other way! Very brave capture!!!

KaraNorby
Spotted by
KaraNorby

Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia

Spotted on Sep 29, 2012
Submitted on Sep 29, 2012

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